A collective gasp accompanied Mohamed Salah’s 29th goal of the season, in a debut campaign backed by that very same soundtrack.

After all the talk of the now-defunct Fab Four, this is the sound which will endure. The inhale of expectation, the satisfying thud when leather meets ball, the ripple of the net. Cue those gasps, and then pandemonium.

Liverpool are not just scoring goals for fun, but eliciting that very emotion. It is fun to watch this side, to see them maraud up the pitch and make opponents backtrack. The Red Arrows, a horseless cavalry. Fearsome, frightening, fun.

Of the 88 goals scored in 36 league and cup games, few have been undeserved. Scrappy perhaps, but rarely unmerited. Goal number 87 - the first at St Mary’s - was a simple tap in for Roberto Firmino but stemmed from a rapid counter, initiated by the quick hands and mind of Loris Karius.

Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah

It was no.88 which brought about the delirium; a quicker and slicker one-two than the world’s best welterweight. Salah finished nervelessly, but it was a back-heeled flick from Roberto Firmino which sent him through, a touch of flair not for consumption before the 9pm watershed.

It was a move, and strike, which ended the game as a contest. It was also one which should have put Europe on notice, the sort of effort replayed across the continent, shared on Twitter, Instagram and WhatsApp. Look at this goal, and look at this team.

Salah and Firmino account for 49 of Liverpool’s 88 goals this season. Football often sees noses pressed against the window, a look at what else is available in the distance. Domestically, Harry Kane and Sergio Aguero are marvelled at; abroad, apart from the usual Ballon d’Or mainstays, there is praise for the attacking prowess of Juventus, Napoli, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen and Lyon.

Roberto Firmino of Liverpool sets up Mohamed Salah with a back heel for a goal against Southampton at St Mary's (Image: (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images))

Yet Salah has one more league goal than Aguero, and is just one behind Kane; as a duo, they have more than Higuain and Dybala in Turin, Mertens and Insigne in Naples, and their near half century trumps all three of Bale, Benzema and Ronaldo at Real Madrid.

Not even Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez can keep pace with them, managing a “meagre” 46 between them.

That’s not all. Sadio Mane has not reached the form he did in his maiden season at Anfield, but he still remains a key component of the front three. His presence and persistence on the left allows space for his team-mates to operate in. He had no tangible reward for his endeavour against Southampton, but would have been comforted in the knowledge that sooner rather than later, his work will pay off.

Jurgen Klopp was keen to stress the importance of the team after the 2-0 win, and he is right to. It is not just about Salah and Firmino. “Both profit from our style of play that’s for sure,” he said.

Roberto Firmino celebrates with Mohamed Salah after scoring the opening goal during the Premier League match between Southampton and Liverpool at St Mary's Stadium (Image: (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images))

To watch this Klopp team in current form is like a live performance of Home Alone. Liverpool set traps all over the pitch and wait for the opposition to be hit square in the face with a swinging iron, or fired in the unmentionables with a pellet gun.

There have been bloodied noses and bruised balls this season, but the biggest damage could yet be inflicted.

Liverpool travel to Porto this week to resume their Champions League campaign, their first knockout game in the competition since 2009.

Though Klopp is right to highlight the team ethos at his club, there is no doubt who the Portuguese side will fear most ahead of the tie. Virgil van Dijk will command respect but it is Salah, Firmino and Mane who will be circled in the pre-match preparation. They are a trident who can win a tie in a matter of moments, just as they did at home to Hoffenheim, and as they should have away in Seville.

Their game is suited to the high intensity, high stakes roll of the dice that European competition can be. Liverpool can go from zero to 60 in seconds, and from no goals to three within 10 minutes. No team in Europe has scored more away goals than Liverpool this season, putting them in contention of any tie.

Their form in this season’s Champions League is even more astonishing considering both Firmino and Mane are having their first experience of the competition this year. Their emergence might have surprised a few elsewhere, but they are no longer a secret for Liverpool.

Porto represent a difficult obstacle in the last 16, but Klopp’s front three are good enough to dismiss them. If they do, then their potency could be tested against some of the best. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris St-Germain. After a campaign of dancing around defenders, the grandest stage would await.

This is their first attempt of conquering Europe, but it cannot be their last. What Liverpool have in Salah, Firmino and Mane are three talented players, still developing, and still not yet at their peak. Klopp must be given the opportunity - and he must allow it himself - to keep this trio together, to watch them combine at their peak on Merseyside, rather than elsewhere.

That is the essential next step for Liverpool. Suarez and Xabi Alonso spent their prime years elsewhere; Philippe Coutinho will no doubt do likewise. Fernando Torres should have done at Chelsea, too. All were aged between 25 and 27 when they left Merseyside.

Firmino is 26, with Salah and Mane both 25. Conceivably, this trio could keep together during their peak years, for another two or three seasons. There are no guarantees they will continue to progress as they have in their first six months together, but they should be given the opportunity to try.

It won’t be easy, although they are a curious triumvirate when it comes to transfer links. Firmino would be an asset to any team, but none fit him as well as Liverpool – a viewpoint which should soon be reflected by a new contract. For Mane, Liverpool feels like his pinnacle, and he could remain at Anfield as long as he wants to.

Salah would pose the biggest concern perhaps given his ascension into Europe’s upper echelon of talent. With more goals than any other player apart from Kane, it is no surprise the Real Madrid charm offensive has begun.

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But the Egyptian only joined Liverpool last summer, and a 12-month stay at the club would betray those who speak of how settled Salah is in his new surroundings.

Even with temptation – arriving in the form of a burlap sack with dollar signs scrawled upon it – Liverpool must resist. In Salah, Firmino and Mane, they have three potential world-beaters who can rival some of Europe’s best strike forces; the kind of front three which can win trophies, albeit with a little help behind them also needed.

Liverpool sides of the past 20 years have felt on the cusp of something special, and this one ranks alongside them. Those ones fell short because the final piece of the jigsaw is missing; this one simply has to keep the pieces it already has in place.

If they do for the next couple of years, Europe might become more and more familiar with Firmino’s flicks and Salah scoring.